News Release

LDS Charities Trains Bicol Partners for Wheelchair Initiative

 

Thirty-nine wheelchair assessors were trained in three separate training sessions for LDS Charities (LDSC) Wheelchair Initiative with the Bicol Regional Teaching and Training Hospital (BRTTH) held from 9-18 April 2018 at the Legazpi Stake Center.

The training course was based on World Health Organization guidelines and focused on assessing individual user needs, selecting and fitting an appropriate wheelchair, and training users and caregivers. Hospital staff and individuals from local organizations who directly serve people with mobility concerns participated in the training.  

Training sessions were conducted by professional wheelchair assessors commissioned by LDSC. Trainers were immediately able to use the skills they learned by assessing, fitting and instructing proper care and use of a wheelchair to approximately fifty persons with disabilities. The wheelchairs provided were part of the total 300 units donated by LDSC to BRTTH.

The goal of the LDS Charities Wheelchair Initiative is to improve the quality of life for people who have a mobility impairment by providing the appropriate manual wheelchair, hand-powered trike, or walking aid. LDSC has several wheelchair designs including a standard wheelchair for most applications, an all-terrain wheelchair for those who move in unpaved areas, an active wheelchair for students or active people who play sports and a hand-powered trike with a canopy. Other assistive aids such as walkers and crutches for home mobility and pressure-relief cushions are also available for use in wheelchairs by clients with lower body paralysis.

The wheelchair initiative in Bicol, administered locally by BRTTH, will serve the mobility impaired in Albay, Sorsogon and other neighbouring provinces. The newly-trained wheelchair assessors will conduct assessments to ensure that each mobility impaired client is fitted with the most appropriate assistive aid according to their individual needs. Wheelchairs are primarily intended for indigent clients and are provided free of charge. 

LDS Charities is the humanitarian arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since 2003, the Church has been active in wheelchair distribution through partnerships with local agencies. 

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